Metal-cooling bath.



W. S. ROGERS.

METAL COOLING BATH.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 11, 1913. 1,0 21, Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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METAL COOLING BATH.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.11,1913.

1,086,621 Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Qttoww UNITED STATES- PATENT orrron.

WINFIELD s. ROGERS, or BANTAM, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF T0 NELLI M. soon, or BANTAM, CONNECTICUT.

METAL-GOOLING BATH.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 10,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WINFIELD S. Rooms, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bantam, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut,- have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal- Cooling Baths, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

To those familiar withthe art of treating metal as for example, to case harden, it is well known that it is customary, particularly in the treatment of relatively small articles, such as ball bearing collars and the like, for the workmen to take the parts after they come from the furnace and to swing them in a bath of oil or water, or both, it being recognized that the movement of the articles in the bath results in decided advantages. Une diificulty, however, incidental to this operation resides in the factthat the workmen often become careless and either perform the operation in a perfunctory manner and "do not give all of the articles a uniform treatment, or they pile the articles one upon another in the bath with the result that soft spots or other flaws subsequently develop, although they cannot be perceived until the articles have gone into use.

With a knowledge of these conditions, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, durable and efiicient construction of mechanism which will operate in such a manner that the articles to be case hardened or otherwise treated, will all receive a uniform treatment, and in their treatment will be kept entirely separate from each other and not allowed to come in contact with each other in the bath, whereby all tendency to develop soft spots or other flaws will be avoided. And the invention also aims to generally improve metal cooling baths so as to render them more useful and commercially desirable.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combina-v tions -of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which- Flgure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a metal cooling bathv constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of another embodiment of the device hereinafter specifically described, and, Fig.

4 is a transverse sectional view thereof on the line 44, of Fig. 3.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and designated in all of the views of the accompanying drawings by like reference characters.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a tank 1, which may be of any desired size and shape, according to the particular requirements of the case, said tank being provided near one end but spaced therefrom with a transversely extending partition or dam 2, as best illustrated in Fig. 1. Almost the entire tank is filled with water, to a level some predetermined distance above the lower edge of the dam 2 which, as will be noted, terminates considerably short of the bottom of the tank, leaving the space below its lower edge entirely free and open, but on top of the body of water between the dam 2 and the adjoining end of the tank, there is a film or body of oil, as indicated at 3. This end of the tank is provided with an inclined chute 4 which extends down through the film of oil 3 and terminates at its lower edge above and close to the upper flight of an endless conveyer 5 extending in an inclined direction from one end of the tank to the other, the lowermost point of the conveyer being located near the bottom of the tank underneath the chute 4 and the higher point where the conveyer discharges, being located above the other end of the tank. This conveyer embodies a lower shaft 6 and an upper shaft 7 and may be driven in any desired way and at variable and any predetermined speed, as required, the means for driving the conveyer in the embodiment of the invention now being described, being shown in the present instance as an electric motor 8 which is operatively connected to the upper shaft 7 of the conveyer by means of a sprocket chain or belt 9.

From as much of the description as has preceded, in connection with the correlated views of the accompanying drawings, it will be understood that the articles to be treated are deposited upon the chute 4 and are allowed to slip down through the film of oil 3 into the water contained within the tank, the articles passing onto the upper flight of the conveyer 5 which travels in the direction of the arrow shown in connection with Fig. 1, the articles being thereby moved through the water and finally emerging therefrom and being finally deposited onto a discharging chute 10, from whence, they may be removed or dropped into any desired receptacle. It is intended that the water he kept circulating in the tank and at all times maintained at a uniform temperature.

Preferably, the tank is provided at one end with a water inlet 11 and at its opposite end with a Water outlet 12.

In that embodiment of the invention hereinbefore described, it will be seen that the conveyer is of such a length and at such a slight pitch or inclination that no slats or similar devices are necessary to insure that the articles shall be carried along on the upper flight of the conveyer. In some instances, I have found it advisable to alter this arrangement and to carry out the invention in an embodiment such as is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. In this last named embodiment, the tank is designated 1, the dam 2 the film of oil 3, the chute 4 and the conveyer 5. The conveyer 5 it will be noted, does not extend from one end of the tank to the other, as in the first described embodiment of the mechanism, but only a portion of the length of the tank and deposits its articles upon a more inclined discharging conveyer 13 which extends down into the tank and which is provided with transversely extending slats 14 designed to positively carry the articles one after another up and out of the tank, where they may be deposited upon a discharging chute 10. In this embodiment of the invention, both conveyers are operated by means of a motor 8 by driving connections that need not be described, being clearly illustrated in the drawings.

'While the accompanying drawings illustrate what I believe to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but that various changes may be made in the construction, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is r 1. A metal cooling bath, including a tank provided near one end and at the top thereof with a transversely extending dam, the lower edge of which terminates in spaced relation to bottom of the tank, leaving the space below its lower edge entirely open, a body of water in the tank, a film of oil on the water between the dam and the adjacent end of the tank, an inclined conveyer mounted within the tank and extending lengthwise thereof with its lower end underneath the dam and spaced therefrom and adjoining the said adjacent end of the tank, and an inclined chute located at said end of the tank, and extending down into the tank through the film of oil, the lower edge of said inclined chute terminating above and close to the upper flight of said conveyer.

2. A metal cooling bath, comprising atank, an inclined conveyer mounted therein and extending lengthwise thereof with its lowermost point contiguous to one end of the tank and its uppermost point terminating in spaced relation to the other end of the tank, a discharging conveyer also mounted within the tank and extendin lengthwise thereof from and underneath the igher point of the first named conveyer upwardly to the said other end of the tank and above the same, a dam extending transversely of the tank near the first named end thereof with its lower edge terminating above and in spaced relation to the upper flight of the first named conveyer, a body of water in the tank, a film of oil 011 said body of water between the dam and the first named end of the tank, and an inclined chute located at the said first named end of the tank and extending downwardly into the same through the film of oil into the body of water, the lower edge of the inclined chute terminating close to and above the upper flight of the first named conveyer.

- In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WINFIELD S. ROGERS.

Witnesses RUTH EDWARDS, KATHERINE L. DEMrsEY. 

